


to speak without sound

by ScreechTheMighty



Series: Talk Some Sense To Me [9]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, I was gonna do pre-relationship but I wanted to make it CUTER, Sign Language, no beta reader we die like men, wrote this instead of sleeping, you can tell it's established relationship because she calls him "elliott" not "mirage"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 03:15:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19417354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreechTheMighty/pseuds/ScreechTheMighty
Summary: Sometimes, what Wraith needs more than anything is quiet. (OR I saw a super valid headcanon and wanted to write the thing.)





	to speak without sound

**Author's Note:**

> So [someone sent tumblr user mirage-babey the HC that Mirage and Wraith communicate with sign language](https://mirage-babey.tumblr.com/post/185888645179/hc-wraith-and-mirage-communicate-in-sign-language) and that is my entire shit, so here you go. Sorry the title is bad, I'm posting this five hours before I have to be awake for church. Literally, God help me.
> 
> (Note added now that I've slept: author doesn't have migraines and is not deaf/fluent in ASL, so please feel free to gently correct me on anything I got wrong!)

There were rules in place to prevent overuse of tactical abilities. Wraith was one of the legends on an honor system. They had no real way of limiting how often she could void run or create portals, and could only hold the threat of disqualification and heavy fines over her head to keep things fair.

They didn’t have to, though. Even staying within the parameters of what various Apex officials deemed “fair” put her at risk of a migraine. Wraith wanted to stay alive—wanted to keep Pathfinder and Elliott alive, too—but she had to keep that in mind. The last thing she wanted to do was risk getting the mother of all headaches in the middle of a match.

Or after a match, for that matter.

But sometimes, things were beyond her control. Sometimes she agreed to an Elite match because she wasn’t able to look at some terminals for as long as she wanted. Sometimes, in trying to be cautious, they stuck too close to the edge of the rings and had to make a run for it.

Sometimes she had to place a portal, farther than she had before, to keep her team from dying a painful and embarrassing death in the ring.

They won, but only barely; Pathfinder got knocked down during the final push, and Wraith’s field of vision started to blur not long after. She didn’t say anything, tried to ignore it, tried to ignore the rising feeling of nausea and the worse feeling of foreboding that surged through her body. She focused on the voices, and on getting the next shots fired, on _not_ getting shot.

She kept it together until a voice came over the loudspeakers: “ _We have our Elite Champions._ “

That was when the pain started. And it grew from there, a pulsing feeling digging itself into the left side of her skull, pushing harder and harder as they were ferried out of the ring. She made a direct line for the medical station. One of the medical ‘bots tried to speak to her; she ignored it, pushing past to the closest unoccupied private room, closed and locked the door, dimmed the lights, and collapsed in a corner, trying not to throw up.

Someone broke in, eventually, letting in a crack of light as they did. Wraith shrank away from it. Fortunately, whoever it was shut the door quickly. “Wraith?” It was Elliott. Of course it was Elliott. “Hey, are y-“

_Shut up,_ she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. Opening her mouth risked puking and the _thought_ of making _more noise_ made her headache worse. She covered her ears and shrank further into the corner. _Go away, go away, go away_ …

He didn’t go away. He _did_ shut his mouth, so there was that. When Wraith risked glancing up, he was sitting down near her but to an angle, so she’d be able to walk past him if he had to. The concern in his eyes was obvious. _What’s wrong?_ those eyes said. _Where are you injured?_

She couldn’t tell him, not with her voice. What she tried wasn’t something she would resort to immediately, but a gut instinct told her to try. Her hands shook as she pulled them away from her ears and signed, “ _Head hurts._ ”

Elliott’s face lit up with recognition—then immediately fell in concern. “ _Okay. Medicine?_ ”

“ ** _Please._** ” She signed it as empathically as she could with how much her head hurt. Elliott got the message and got her some painkillers and water as quickly as he could without making a lot of noise. One thing you could say about working in Apex Legends: the painkillers were _very_ fast-acting. It wasn’t strong enough to completely cure her headache (nothing was, short of hard narcotics that she didn’t want to take), but it was enough to take the edge off.

“ _Better?_ ” Elliott asked. Wraith nodded. “ _Want to go to your room?_ ”

She nodded again. Darkness and quiet was the only thing that could help her now. She dreaded walking out into the halls; hopefully, the painkillers would make it more bearable.

Elliott guided her through the halls of the Legends complex. He had to steer her away from crowds a few times, which made the journey feel longer than it should have. It was a relief when they got to her room. “Do you…” Elliott shut up when Wraith whined quietly and switched to signing again. “ _Need anything?_ ”

She might have remembered how to sign, somehow. But she didn’t remember the sign for _ice pack,_ and speaking still felt like the worst thing she could do. Her tablet was just far away enough that Elliott had to pass it to her. She tapped out _ice packs_ , then added, _Stay after?_ before showing him.

Elliott nodded immediately and slipped out again. Wraith took the opportunity to take off her shoes, force herself to change into more comfortable clothes, and crawl under the covers. Having the lights off helped, even as the pain kept pulsing through her skull.

_I am never doing that again,_ she thought. Even though she knew that probably wasn’t true.

Elliott came back with two ice packs and some more water. Wraith immediately pressed the ice packs against her head and neck, trying to chase away some of the pain. Elliott sat on the edge of the bed, watching her with concern.

“ _Sorry,_ ” he signed.

Wraith shook her head and held out her hand. He took it immediately, one hand gently massaging the scar on her palm while the other hand massaged the scar on her wrist. That relaxed her almost as much as the ice packs and the darkness. Wraith closed her eyes and focused on breathing.

In and out. In and out.

The pain faded slowly, going from near-unbearable to livable. When she felt safe to open her eyes, Elliott was still there. He was still holding her hand, but had curled up towards the end of her bed with his eyes closed. “…where did you learn to sign?” she asked quietly.

Elliott looked up at her and smiled. “Hearing loss runs in my mom’s side of the family,” he said softly. “Henry and Miles inherited it…they both had hearing aids, but Mom had us all learn. Mostly we used it to talk shit behind people’s backs.” Wraith laughed quietly. “You feel better?”

“Hmm. Yeah, I just…need to rest.” The ice packs had lost their chill by that point, so she took them off and put them on the bedside table. “I’ll be okay by tomorrow. They don’t usually last that long.”

“Does this happen a lot?”

“Sometimes. Today was a long day.”

“Yeah, it was.” He squeezed her hand gently. “Do you want me to bring you dinner?”

“Please? Nothing too heavy.” She was still feeling queasy; that would fade too, but she didn’t want to risk making things worse. Not when she was finally starting to feel better. “You should probably get changed, too.”

“Oh, yeah…” Elliott laughed awkwardly. He had, at least, taken off his jumpsuit to reveal the tank top and shorts he wore underneath, but it was probably still sweaty. “Make myself suitable for the cafeteria.” He stood up, stopping to squeeze her hand and kiss her temple before letting go. “Might shower, too. Hey…”

When Wraith looked up at him, he stopped to cross his arms over his chest and point to her. _Love you_.

She smiled, returning the signs with the one-handed version. _Love you._

She still had a headache, but even that small interaction made up for it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr at screechthemighty. *pathfinder voice* Who's hyped to get stomped on by a kaiju in s2 of Apex? I am!


End file.
